| Laboratory Name |
Enzyme Molecular Genetics Laboratory |
| Laboratory Responsible |
Assist. Prof. Saliha İşsever Öztürk |
| Department |
Molecular Biology and Genetics |
| Telephone |
+90 (262) 605 25 14 / 605 25 40 |
| Address |
Gebze Institute of TechnologyDepartment of Molecular Biology and Genetics C-2/10541400 Cayirova, Kocaeli, TURKEY |
| General Information |
Recently, widespread usage of enzymes and their products in various industrial areas increased the demand for the enzymes with improved activity and stability. In this sense, the group has focused on the studies of industrial enzyme producing local bacterial isolates and reference bacterial strains. In this context, industrial enzyme producing local isolates or reference strains are being engineered by molecular biotechnological methods in order to develop recombinant strains and variants with desired enzymatic properties.Due to the availability of the soil biodiversity without the need of culturing, metagenomic approach has gained widespread usage worldwide. Since it allows the cloning of the metagenomes in the soil sample, it is likely to discover the novel biocatalysts by functional screening of the metagenomic DNA libraries. For this reason, another application area in this laboratory comprises functional metagenomics approach for obtaining the enzymes with desired properties.With these studies, we aim not only to produce the industrial enzymes in cooperation with related industrial enterprises but also to protect the microbial biodiversity in our territories and to contribute to the enzyme science. |
| Laboratory Staff |
Nagihan Akbulut (PhD student)Özlem Akkaya (PhD student)Hüseyin Balcı (PhD student)Ş. Serda Kayman (PhD student)Merve Tuzlakoğlu Öztürk (PhD student)Irmak Şah (PhD student)Fulya Dursun (MSc student)Gamze Tanrıverdi (MSc student)Levent Temel (MSc student) |
| Applications |
1. Screening and isolation of industrial enzyme producing bacterial isolates from local ecosystems according to the enzymatic activities2. Bacterial identification by using molecular typing methods (16S rDNA sequencing, 16S and rrn ARDRA, Ribotyping, AFLP, % G+C analysis, ISR, ITSR, quantitative DNA hybridization)3. Cloning, sequencing and expression of the enzyme genes4. Developing recombinant enzymes from reference bacterial strains in order to use as model systems5. Purification and biochemical characterization of the enzymes from reference / recombinant strains6. Developing new recombinant strains in order to improve the enzymatic features / productivity by means of directed evolution or rational design7. Obtaining enzymes having new / improved features from soil / water samples via functional metagenomics approach |
| Equipment |
• PCR• Real-time PCR • Automatic DNA sequencing Otomatik DNA Dizi Analiz Cihazı• Microplate reader• Protein purification system • Multiple fermentor system• Agarose and polyacrylamide gel elestrophoresis systems • Gel documentation system • Incubator• Spectrophotometer• Sonicator• Centrifuge• Hibridization oven• -counter |
